Boeing Plant 1

Boeing Plant 1 (also known as Boeing Oxbow Plant) was the second Boeing airplane production facility which was the home of The Boeing Company between 1917 and 1965 in Seattle, Washington, USA. Boeing Plant 1 was responsible for the assembly and production of all aspects of the early Boeing airplane models produced until the completion of Boeing Plant 2 in 1936.

By the 1950s Boeing Plant 1 consisted of more than 20 buildings. The facility was made obsolete by the larger airplanes produced in the 1930s, and was used primarily as a forging plant and testing facility, as well as a producer of component parts used in the production of airplanes in other Boeing facilities. The Boeing Plant 1 site was sold to the Port of Seattle in 1970, and is currently located on the southern portion of the Port of Seattle Terminal 115 site.

Only two structures remain from the original Boeing Plant 1 site. One is Building No. 105, also known as the Red Barn, which is currently located at the Museum of Flight. The other is the 1929-vintage administration building, located on its original location, just south of the Terminal 115 site at 200 Southwest Michigan Street, Seattle.

In 1909, Edward Heath constructed a wooden boat shipyard on an oxbow meander of the Duwamish River. Heath soon became insolvent, and William Boeing, for whom Heath was building a hugely expensive and luxurious yacht, bought the shipyard and land for ten dollars, in exchange for Boeing's acceptance of Heath's debts.

As war in Europe was looming for America, contracts for airplanes were being granted by the US Government. Boeing required a larger facility for the production of his airplanes, and with the completion of the Duwamish channelization project in 1916, the Heath Shipyard was an ideal location for the production of wooden seaplanes. The Boeing Company moved into the Heath Shipyard in 1917 and began producing aircraft from the simple barn-like structure, known as the Red Barn. The entirety of the aircraft was built within the barn's walls. During the first year of operations, Heath was the master woodsman in charge of woodworking at the factory until moving to Portland to start another wooden boat shipyard. Boeing expanded the facility through 1918, including a large assembly plant and several utility buildings.

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